After the Revolution...

Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans
by Joyce Appleby

I have to admit, I was never that "into" American history back in school. I knew the basics - when the American Revolution took place, who our first presidents were, that we drove out or destroyed the Native American societies as we expanded westward - but I never looked any deeper than that. I never thought what life must have been like for people as our country developed and grew.

A few years ago now I got bitten by the genealogy bug - hard. I've suddenly found out that I need to to know more about the how and why to better understand why my ancestors chose to pick up and move from places like New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to Ohio, Illinois and eventually Iowa.

Inheriting the Revolution doesn't tell me much about the routes my ancestors would have travelled, but it was a good overview of the societal changes and challlenges that they were dealing with.

The book talks about the generation of folks who grew up in America between 1776 and 1830. These are the people who had to create the national identity of the "United States of America." Their innovations and can-do attitudes, as well as their prejudices and faults, set the stage for all of the national triumphs and tragedies to follow.

The most unexpected thing that I learned from this book is that at least one of my impressions regarding the past was dead wrong. I had always gotten the impression, based on the way history had been taught to me, that most people in the early 1800s were very sober and restrained, rather like most people today. Apparently, however, a large part of socializing back then involved copious amounts of alcohol, and people from all walks of life - from working craftsmen to house-wives to clergymen - partook, not only in the evenings, but during the working day. At the time, this was not considered either wrong or unusual.

The book, which is a little on the scholarly side, looks at politics, religion, familial relations, changing careers and reform movements.

You can find this book on the second floor of the library with the number 973 APP.
c Waterloo Public Library 2006